Country Roads
by squirrelthe13th
Summary: 8 years have passed since the Blood Spiral War. Viviane is invited to the reunion, but will she be welcomed or has she been forgotten?


**Disclaimer – I don't own Huntik or the song "Country Roads" **

_Country roads, take me home._

Viviane Casterwill stared out the window of the taxi, fingers fiddling nervously in her lap. She wasn't used to the busy feel of New York City, with all the bright, colorful lights as the sun began to sink below the horizon, honking of cars and shouts of pedestrians, and the heavy smell of car exhaust mingled with the delicious aroma that wafted out the windows of the restaurants lining the streets. But she had been pleasantly surprised when she received an invitation two months ago to the reunion, which she was on her way to now. The people attending consisted of all the Seekers that had helped defeat the Blood Spirals.

She was excited to see her family members, no matter how annoying some of them could be. Viviane had not been at all surprised when her cousin Sophie wrote to her saying that she and Lok were officially together. Dante and Zhalia were actually married now, another couple everyone saw coming. They had decided to hold a very small wedding, though, and only Lok, Sophie, Den, Harrison, and Metz were invited. No one had sent a letter explaining this to Viviane; she simply read it in the Huntik Foundation newsletter.

No one had made contact with Viviane in a long time, they had started their own lives, and while Viviane understood this, she couldn't help but wonder if they had forgotten about her. Because, after all, her birthday had been just a month ago and there was not even a birthday card in the mail.

Rain was now beginning to fall steadily to the ground, the sun had vanished and a velvety blanket covered the sky as her car pulled up to the Huntik Foundation Headquarters. Viviane slipped out of the car, thanking her driver and paying him, then walking towards the skyscraper.

She was 19 now; 8 years had passed since when she had fought in the Blood Spiral War. She wore a raincoat over a comfy plum sweater, jeans, and well-worn sneakers. Most of her features had stayed with her, but she was slightly tanner, with light freckles dancing across her nose. Her flaming red hair, covered by the hood of her coat, fell halfway down her back, and her blue eyes looked up at the top of the building. She briefly wondered if anyone _had_ forgotten her, and nearly turned around. She twisted the ring that held the legendary titan of courage, Mithras, and walked inside.

_To the place, I belong._

She had to ride the elevator 35 floors up before she reached her destination. She had rode in taxis for a day and 2 hours, rode in an elevator for 5 minutes, and walked for 14 seconds, and now she was here. Her hand reached for the knob and slowly turned it. She walked into a bright, loud, large room, with tables filled with food on the far right and people squeezed everywhere in between. It was so different from her quiet home by the Crystal Caves; she wanted to cry from being so overwhelmed.

Just then, she saw a familiar face pushing her way through the crowd. Viviane smiled shyly, forcing the tears to the back of her mind as Sophie Casterwill caught her in a big embrace.

"I missed you so much!" her favorite relative exclaimed, and then began to babble away about recent events. "I've been so busy the past couple of months with missions and all that I haven't gotten the chance to write – oh, no." The leader of the Casterwill elders pulled away and looked at her younger cousin, shame written all over her features. "I've missed your birthday, haven't I?"

So she hadn't forgotten! Well, not completely. Viviane nodded slowly.

"It's okay, no one else remembered either." the red-headed girl said, trying to reassure Sophie, but Sophie's green eyes widened in shock.

"It is most certainly not okay! Lok!" She called for her boyfriend, turning around with her hands on her hips.

The Irish Seeker made his way through the crowd, greeting Viviane and giving her a hug before turning to Sophie.

"What did I do?" he said with a clueless look at his girlfriend.

"We missed her birthday! All of us!" the green-eyed girl cried, looking close to tears.

Viviane rushed to try and say that it was perfectly fine, she didn't expect anyone to remember anyways, but Lok was already making his way into the middle of the room, clapping his hands loudly.

"May I have everyone's attention please? Thank you. It has come to my attention that we have missed Viviane's birthday!"

There was a collective gasp in the room, and the mentioned girl saw the looks of embarrassment and shock on everyone's faces. She head murmurs of excuses that faded away into shame, and many apologetic looks flitted across the room towards where she was standing, her cheeks red.

"So I suggest it is slightly past time to sing Happy Birthday!" Lok shouted.

The room burst out in song, clearly overjoyed to have a chance to redeem themselves. Viviane couldn't help but break out into a large grin as her friends, and people she didn't even know, sang for her.

_West Virginia, Mountain Mama._

She really wished her grandmother could be here to see this. She would've loved seeing everyone together, Casterwills and members of the Huntik Foundation talking and laughing side by side. She had gotten to see many of her friends, and some, like Dante and Zhalia, even had young children toddling behind them. Alexander looked like Dante, his father, but had Zhalia's blue-black hair.

Sophie and Lok were adorable, of course, and she was glad to see Den and Harrison acting like brothers again, seeing as they had been on different sides during the Blood Spiral War. Viviane had never really gotten a chance to know Harrison, and found him quite funny. Anyone could tell that the hardships both of the brothers had faced had not disappeared, but had brought them closer. The 19-year-old had never had a sibling, but from how Sophie and Lucas sometimes acted, not all siblings were as close as Den and Harrison.

Although the younger of the two brothers had drifted off to talk with a seeker Viviane didn't know, she fell into easy conversation with Den. He had even suggested they drive out and meet each other for coffee sometime. Needless to say, Viviane accepted, glad to have something to look forward to.

She found herself talking to people she had heard of but never even met, including Lok's mother, Montehue, and even Metz. The blue-eyed girl found herself enjoying the reunion in no time at all, and felt almost silly that she had been so afraid to see her friends again.

But like all good things, this night was coming to an end. It was nearly two in the morning, and Viviane saw people slowly drifting out, one at a time. Looking around at all the people still engaged in conversation, sighed and began to make her way towards the door with a heavy heart. She loved her little cottage home, but her friends were all so far away.

"Wait!" someone called from behind her. Viviane turned around to see Sophie and Lok crossing the room quickly. They both gave her hugs, then Lok looked at Sophie and whispered something in her ear. Sophie's face lit up and she began talking animatedly.

"There's an empty plot of land in upstate New York. We don't want to force you from your home, but we thought if you'd like to – oh!" Sophie began, but was cut off when Viviane flung her arms around her.

"If you're asking me to move out here, I would love to be closer to you all." She said shyly, stepping back to look her cousin in the eye, even though she was nearly bursting with excitement on the inside.

She found herself tangled in a group hug, people somehow still carrying on quiet conversation as arms draped over shoulders and captured Viviane in the middle. She couldn't ever remember feeling so happy, so safe, since her grandmother left. These were her friends, and although they could be a little silly, a little annoying, a little forgetful, they were a little bit of family. And family is the very thing that Viviane treasured most.

_Take me home, country roads._

_Take me home._

**So this was a songfic, using the song "Country Roads" by John Denver. I hope you enjoyed it, and this is a one-shot, so I will not be continuing it. I did take The Box Project down for now, I realized I posted it too soon and that I needed to develop Sara's character a lot more than I had previously thought. So this is a little filler, I may write a separate story based off this one shot, because I really like writing about Viviane. Anyways, hope you enjoyed my little one-shot. Thanks for reading! **


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